Production of silver-activated zinc sulfide (ZnS:Ag) scintillation detector for counting alpha particles

In this research, Zinc Sulfide doped with Silver (ZnS:Ag) powders were synthesised on Nitrogen atmosphere for detection of alpha particles by chemical Co-precipitation method. Different concentrations of Silver ions were investigated to optimize impurities amount for achive best alpha counting efficiency. Optical and structural characteristics of the synthesized powder using Photoluminescence Spectroscopy (PL), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) was studied. Then, the synthesized powders with thickness in range of 3.5 to 25 mg.cm-2 were deposited on the Plexiglass substrate. The efficiency of this produced screen scintillation for alpha particles was measured. Results show that the synthesized ZnS:Ag scintillator have an alpha counting efficiency of the source fluence equal to 36%, where that of the commercial ZnS(Ag) powders is 67%.